Downtown Bremerton post office renamed for trailblazing Black Navy chief

BREMERTON — The U.S. Post Office at 602 Pacific Ave. in Bremerton has been renamed the John Henry Turpin Post Office Building after a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer became law this week.

The law officially commemorates Turpin, a Bremerton resident and one of the first African Americans to achieve the rank of chief petty officer in the Navy. Over his nearly 30-year career, Turpin served in the Spanish-American War, World War I and the Boxer Rebellion and is credited with saving the lives of three officers and 12 sailors after the USS Bennington suffered a boiler explosion in 1905.

A crew from Abco Contracting, a Wisconsin-based company, repaints the exterior of the historic John Henry Turpin U.S. Post Office in downtown Bremerton on June 5.

Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, introduced the bill in 2019. It passed the House of Representatives in September and the Senate on Dec. 3. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law Monday.

“This is a man who was a distinguished Navy sailor, who was a lifelong resident of Bremerton and it was somewhat striking that there are a whole lot of people who don’t know that,” Kilmer said.

Turpin, who died in 1962, was cremated and his ashes spread at sea. No service was held to honor his service until 2017, when a memorial marker was installed at Ivy Green Cemetery.

The effort to rename the post office was made possible by a groundswell of local support from Bremerton’s Black community. Karen Vargas, a community activist and member of the Kitsap ERACE Coalition, asked Kilmer in 2017 for help getting Turpin nominated for a Medal of Honor.

That process proved to be challenging, Kilmer said, because awarding the Medal of Honor usually requires eyewitnesses. Turpin served most of his career during the earliest part of the 20th century and had no children.  

Instead, with the help of Vargas and the Kitsap NAACP, Kilmer’s office filed the bill to rename the post office in downtown Bremerton, itself a landmark of the city’s history.

“I think both that he was a trailblazing and historic leader and also that he did that at a time of significant discrimination I think amplifies the importance of ensuring his story is told,” Kilmer said.

Chief Gunner's Mate John Henry "Dick" Turpin was one of the first African American Chief Petty Officers in the U.S. Navy. This photograph appears to have been taken during or after World War II.

Turpin enlisted in the Navy in 1896 at age 20, during a time when people of color were only allowed to be mess attendants. He survived multiple shipboard disasters, including explosions on the USS Maine in 1898 and the USS Bennington in 1905.

When the Bennington’s boiler exploded in 1905, Turpin reportedly saved 15 men by swimming them to shore one at a time. Eleven other sailors received Medals of Honor for their roles in the event, but Turpin did not.

Turpin became one of the first Black chief petty officers in the Navy in 1917. After he retired, he worked at the Puget Sound Naval Yard for 22 years as a master diver and master rigger.

For Vargas, who first learned about Turpin’s story in the 1990s, the law marks an important milestone. Despite his accomplishments, Turpin’s life had gone largely unrecognized for more than 50 years after his death.

“Turpin was the most celebrated African American in Kitsap County and around the nation and so he was one of our own, living here,” Vargas said. “Here we were, we didn’t even have a headstone for the man.”

Vargas called the name change “surreal.”

“I'm standing in awe and I'm crying for my ancestors as well, because so many of the lives of my ancestors who have shed their blood and have sacrificed so much, we will never know their stories,” Vargas said.

The downtown Bremerton Post Office has been renamed the John Henry Turpin Post Office Building after President Trump signed the bill on Monday.

Kitsap NAACP president Tracy Flood, a Navy veteran herself, said Turpin opened the doors for many African American people to have careers in the military.

“It’s almost like it brings you to tears to be able to have the community and especially the African American community to see his honor on this level … it’s giving honor where honor is due,” Flood said.

The name change will be reflected on all government documentation, maps and regulation. A plaque designating the post office as the John Henry Turpin Post Office Building will be installed prominently in the lobby.

Beyond that, the city has some flexibility in how it wants to officially honor Turpin. No official events or physical changes to the building are planned at this time, but Kilmer’s office is looking into potential ideas. Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler said he would support those efforts.

“It’s long past due, we can say that,” Wheeler said. “(Turpin) is an American hero, he is definitely a Bremerton hero and I’m just pleased that this is happening now.”